Tokyo, Oct. 16 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government on Friday appointed Kazuhiko Koshikawa, former ambassador to Spain, as ambassador to the Philippines.
Koshikawa, 63, jointed the Foreign Ministry in 1980 and served in such posts as deputy minister of the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat.
Hiroshi Ueda, 59, former vice governor of Osaka Prefecture, was named ambassador to Romania.
The government also named Ambassador to Serbia Takahiko Katsumata to double as ambassador to Montenegro from Friday, while approving the resignation of Keiji Ide, ambassador for international economic affairs.
Followings are other appointments decided on Friday, with the new ambassadors’ key previous or current positions in parentheses:
Makoto Ito, 63, ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina (ambassador to Albania)
Shinjiro Komatsu, 64, ambassador to Costa Rica (senior deputy minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology)
Mitsuyuki Takada, 61, ambassador to Albania (adviser to Mitsubishi Corp.’s <8058> Global Human Resources Department)
Yasunori Nakayama, 61, ambassador to Greece (acting director-general of the Japan Institute of International Affairs)
Takashi Hoshiyama, 62, ambassador to Botswana (professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University)
Koichi Ito, 61, ambassador to New Zealand (consul-general in Honolulu)
Akira Imamura, 60, ambassador to Georgia (minister to Canada)
Takashi Okada, 60, ambassador to Afghanistan (envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Britain)
Akira Kono 59, ambassador to Algeria (ambassador at the mission to the European Union)
Shuichiro Kawaguchi, 61, ambassador to Mauritius (counsellor at the Embassy in South Africa)
Satoshi Tanaka, 57, ambassador to Zimbabwe (adviser to the Environment Ministry)
Masato Otaka, 59, ambassador to Hungary (press secretary of the Foreign Ministry)
Hiroyuki Minami, 57, ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (director of the Sendai Regional Immigration Bureau)
Note: The appointment of Makoto Ito took effect on Friday, while all the other appointments will go into effect on Monday.
